Down the Hatch: Kendall Whittier's watering hole

We sat at the original, speckled Formica-top bar in the recently re-opened Beehive Lounge and ordered drinks—for him, a whiskey and coke, me, a gin and tonic. Out came the McCormick’s and Shasta, the Taaka and Schwepp’s. 

The labels were, like the bar itself, old familiars. Formerly Daddy Dee’s Beehive Lounge, this new iteration, opened by Blake Ewing earlier this month, stays true to its roots as Kendall Whittier’s blue-collar neighborhood bar, with the notable addition of liquor. Daddy Dee’s sold cans of low-point Busch and High Life and not much else; this Beehive has an affordable but classy cocktail menu in addition to six-and-seven-point craft beers like COOP, Marshall, Anthem, and Left Hand. 

“Neighborhood bars create a unique community that doesn’t happen anywhere else,” Ewing said. “We wanted to make sure to create and keep that here.” 

On one of the first afternoons Beehive Lounge was open, Ewing said a couple of contract laborers from the area stopped in to have a post-shift drink. 

“We didn’t have our TV installed, so these guys went out to their truck, pulled out a ladder, and came back inside and did it for us. It was great to see them immediately take some ownership of the place as their bar.”

As we sipped our drinks, our knees grazed the soft, tufted Naugahyde sides of the bar, another upgrade from the Daddy Dee days, along with the honeybee-yellow paint, new wood paneling, sparse neon beer advertisements, a squat vintage jukebox, and wooden beehive latticework above the bar. 

Where Daddy Dee’s had a wood facade that didn’t allow anyone to see in, Ewing has put in an all-glass storefront. He also had the low-slung drop ceiling removed, revealing an original, shiny, stamped-metal ceiling thirteen feet up—which lends the place an airy, roomy feel. 

“There’s always a mystery to a place if you can’t see in. We wanted the neighborhood to be able to look in, see a clean space, and want to come in for a drink,” Ewing said.

In “Down the Hatch,” assistant editor Liz Blood offers a look inside Tulsa’s many bars, pubs, saloons and gin joints. Send suggestions for future columns to liz@langdonpublishing.com or @lizblood on Twitter. For another taste, read about Liz's visit to The White Lion.